News of the Day From Across the Nation, Aug. 8

Chronicle News Services

Updated 6:28 pm, Friday, August 7, 2015

1 Stop-and-frisk: The Chicago Police Department will allow independent evaluations of its stop-and-frisk procedures that critics say target blacks under an agreement with the American Civil Liberties Union announced Friday, as police across the United States face scrutiny about how they treat minorities. The agreement calls for increased public disclosure and more officer training. It follows a scathing March 2015 report from the ACLU of Illinois that found Chicago officers disproportionately target blacks and other minorities in hundreds of thousands of encounters. Under the agreement, a former U.S. Magistrate judge will provide reports twice a year on police investigatory stops and pat downs.

2CHP shooting: The California Highway Patrol says one of its motorcycle officers was forced to fire on two men in a car when they tried to run him over during a chase. The officer pulled over the Honda Civic for a moving violation Thursday on Interstate 605 in southern Los Angeles County. While the officer was talking to a dispatcher and learning the car was reported stolen, the men fled and the officer gave chase. The men got off the freeway and soon screeched to a stop, then tried to back into the officer, who shot at the back of the Honda and moved out of the way before the car hit his motorcycle. The men ditched the car and ran. Both were caught by other officers. No one was injured.

3Confederate flag: Virginia has revoked specialty license plates featuring a Confederate battle flag after a federal judge dissolved an injunction allowing the image. The Department of Motor Vehicles will begin recalling and replacing existing plates, Attorney General Mark Herring’s office said Thursday night in a statement. U.S. District Judge Jackson Kiser had issued an injunction that allowed the image of the Confederate flag on specialty plates honoring the Sons of the Confederate Veterans. Kiser said in a Thursday order that his decision is “no longer good law” because of a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling in a Texas case that said specialty license plates represent the state’s speech, and not the driver’s speech.

4West Nile virus: Health officials have reported two human cases of West Nile virus in San Bernardino County. The cases come about a month after the virus was first found in mosquitoes at a Rialto park. The state Department of Public Health says there are 8 human cases of West Nile in California so far in 2015. On July 20 officials said a 65-year-old Nevada County woman became the state’s first person to have died from the virus this year.

President Trump addresses nation after mass shooting at Florida SchoolWhite House

5Obama vacation: Eager for a break from Washington, President Obama and his family returned Friday to his summer vacation spot of choice, the Massachusetts island of Martha’s Vineyard, a day earlier than originally planned. Obama plans no public events during the 17 days he will spend on the island. The vacation is Obama’s sixth on the island since he became president.